A Peach Of A Country: “Ramblin’ Man” by The Allman Brothers Band

You could say that the Allmans were the best rock group to come out of Georgia until R.E.M., except that they actually came out of Jacksonville, Florida (and Gregg and Duane Allman were from Nashville). Still it’s not hard to imagine the younger Peter Buck busy learning all the guitar lines to their biggest hit. Written and sung by Dickey Betts, the rest of the band liked it but were reluctant to record it because they felt it veered too close to country music. Similarly, those in charge at Capricorn Records were baffled and didn’t know whether to release it or another song entitled “Wasted Words” as the lead single from Brothers And Sisters. However, promotional copies of “Ramblin’ Man” did get sent to radio stations in Atlanta and Boston and listener response was significant enough to get it properly released.

The song ambles along agreeably enough before building up to an extended guitar jam featuring Betts and Les Dudek. Remarkably the recording, lasting nearly five minutes, was not edited down for single release, indicating that FM radio demographics were encroaching on AM territory and that the model of what radio listeners actually wanted to hear was changing. What else the record might have indicated - and not just for popular music - will be examined further in the next entry.

Date Record Made Number Two: 13 October 1973

Number Of Weeks At Number Two: 1

Record At Number One: That Cher song again; Gregg Allman kept off number one by Cher, Oh, The, Irony

UK Chart Position: None

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